Re: Distinguishing objects and arrays?

On 9/17/11, Anne van Kesteren <annevk@opera.com> wrote:
> For the DOM we have this idea of having a method that can conveniently
> create an element, set its attributes, event handlers, and child nodes.
> However, to keep the method convenient some of those need to become
> optional and therefore it requires some kind of overloading, which is
> where things become problematic.
>
> Maybe there is a better design, but so far we have something like this:
>
> create(name)
> create(name, attributes)
> create(name, children)
> create(name, attributes, children)
> create(name, attributes, eventhandlers, children)
>
> name is a string.
>
> attributes is an object.
>
So is an Array.

> eventhandlers is an object.
>
> children is either a Node or string, or an array of Nodes and strings.
>
A Node is an object.

> Examples:
>
> create('h1', 'Welcome!')
> create('button', {name: 'command', value: 'search'}, {onclick: teehee},
> 'Search')
> create('p', {title: 'hi'}, [node, node2])
>
> The problem is however that arrays and objects are not really
> distinguishable unless you do "evil things".
>
> Anyone with ideas?
>
Just because jQuery is popular, that does not mean you should copy
that API approach.

Your new "create" method does not describe what it does. Go on, I dare
you to name the method by what it actually does.

Then there's the issue [[Scope]] of event handler or the likelihood of
augmenting the attributes/properties confusion by using properties to
set attributes.
-- 
Garrett

Received on Sunday, 18 September 2011 05:12:03 UTC